Lost Boy
by travis.pearce.52
Summary: When the quiet town of Deerpoint, is hit by the biggest blizzard in 107 years, a mysterious boy named Brendan steps out of a snow bank and into the lives of 15 confused teenagers who are asked to help him in his search. What Brendan's searching for - and who he truly is - becomes a mystery that baffles, divides, and energizes the teens of Deerpoint. Told through journal entries.
1. The Radio

Scene 1: The Radio

(In the darkness we hear the static and whirring of someone scanning a radio. We get pieces of songs, commercials, and newscasts until we finally land on the soothing tones of radio guy reciting school closings.)

RADIO GUY: Leicester, Mendon, Benson Landing, Florence...(lights slowly come up on a blizzard. sixteen teenagers listen expectantly to various radios through out the town.) Middlebury, East Middleburry, Ripton, South Lincoln. Good morning, Wisconsin. Incase you're just tuning in, this is Tom Thompson, on W-A-C-K radio, and I'm reciting school closings in no particular order, just to make you all a little uncomfortable.

DAN: Why aren't the in alphabetical order?

TINA-LOUISE: I hate this station.

RADIO GUY: Lincoln, Rutland, Florence, Cornwall...

CLIFFORD: This is confusing!

RADIO GUY: Shoreham, Salisbury, Florence, Cornwall...

HELEN: Mom call the radio station and have this moron fired.

RADIO GUY: Hubbardton, Goshen, Steven's Point...

ARNO: Deerpoint!

RADIO GUY: Bread loaf, fish cakes, garbage bags. Hey that's my shopping list, How'd that get in there?

JULIA: This guy is not funny.

RADIO GUY: Vergennes, Hortonia, West Haven...

KEN: Deerpoint!

RADIO GUY: Whitting...

VINCENT: Deerpoint!

RADIO GUY: Sudbury...

JENNA: Deerpoint!

RADIO GUY: Waybridge...

FRANK/BUCKY: Deerpoint!

RADIO GUY: Ferrisburg...

EVERYONE: Deerpoint!

RADIO GUY: Deerpoint.

(Suddenly there's an explosion of happy music, the teenagers all dance joyfully, until Radio guy interrupts their celebration.)

RADIO GUY: A special announcement to class 301 at Deerpoint High. says blizzard or no blizzard, she expects you to be writing in you class journals everyday. She will be checking when you all get back.

DOOFUS: What?

EDYTHE: Homework?

BENNY: On a snowday?!

VINCENT: I love assignments.

RADIO GUY: Enjoy the weather kids. This is Tom Thompson on W-A-C-K. And remember to bundle up! (The radio cuts off. we hear the deafening sound of wind howling.)


	2. The Blizzard

Scene 2: The Blizzard

(The blizzard rages on, the teens are trudging through mountains of snow on their way somewhere. Many have sleds. Trey stands by his bedroom window with his journal. He writes in it as the other teens continue to trudge and struggle in the snow.)

TREY: Idiots. I hate them. This is private property. I could tell my mom to call the police. They trudge through my backyard to get to the golf course because that's where the best sledding hills are. And I live right next to the golf course. Sometimes, in the summer, we'll be having a barbecue, and a golfball will come flying into our backyard and land in the grill. Or in the potato salad. My cat was hit in the head once. It got a concussion. I hate golf. And I hate idiots who walk through my yard. And I hate writing in this journal. I don't think it's fair that we have to write when it's a snowday.

(Blast of wind and snow. The teens are all sledding. Many take brief breaks to read from their journals.)

FRANKY: On my way to sledding I saw Trey Patterson looking out his window. He's weird.

JENNA: Trey Patterson sits in the back row everyday.

VINCENT: Trey Patterson never speaks unless he has to.

EDYTHE: Trey Patterson wears funny hats.

HELEN: Trey Patterson thinks he's a genious.

KEN: Trey Patterson is conceited.

TINA-LOUISE: Trey Patterson has no friends.

CLIFFORD: Sledding is awesome. I like to sled. Crashing into people is cool. I'm a jock.

ARNO: I went grocery shopping with my mother last week, and she put a box of tampons in the cart. They were right there for everyone to see, right on top of the oreo's. I Pretended I didn't notice, but when we got to the checkout line, Dan Herman was bagging. He's in my english class. He saw the tampons right away and smiled real big, like they were my tampons. I prentended I didn't see him. The next day, he stopped me in front of the lockers and said "Hey, how'd those tampons work out for your old lady?" And I pretended I didn't hear him. So he said it again real loud, so everyone could hear. "Hey, how'd those tampons work out for your old lady?!" And I said "Menstruation is a natural part of a woman's life cycle. I'm sure your mother menstruates too." And he turned red and said I shouldn't talk about his mother and i should shut my mouth. And then he beat the hell out of me, but I pretended it didn't hurt.

DAN: My mother's in the hospital right now, so I don't like it when people talk about her. It makes me mad.

JULIA: I went sledding today. My legs were cold. There's an equipment shed on the eigth hole, so I went in to get warm.


	3. The Shed

Scene 3: The Shed

(Lights up in the equipment shed. There are boxes of golf balls and golf bags filled with clubs. Benny is writing in his journal. The shed door opens and the wind blows. Julia enters and closes the door.)

JULIA: Oh hey.

BENNY: Hey

JULIA: I didn't know there was anyone in here.

BENNY: Just me.

JULIA: I wanted to warm up.

BENNY: Me too.

JULIA: That your journal?

BENNY: Yeah?

JULIA: What are you writing?

BENNY: Just stuff.

JULIA: It's cold.

BENNY: Yeah.

JULIA: I wish everyday was a snowday.

(Light changes. Benny reads from his journal.)

BENNY: Julia's hair smells like cupcakes. Her mother owns a bakery, so she must hang around and watch her bake stuff, and I bet her hair absorbs the aromas. One day she smelled like cinnamon bun. I sit behind her in class every chance I can, because I love the way she smells. Julia is the best smelling person I've ever met.

(Lights go back to shed)

JULIA: Your name's Lenny, right?

BENNY: Benny.

JULIA: Right. Benny. I'm Julia.

BENNY: I know, I sometimes sit behind you in class.

JULIA: Oh. You do? Do you get allergies?

BENNY: No. Why?

JULIA: Because I hear you sniffling all the time.

(The shed door swings open. Sound of blizzard. Clifford, Dan, Ken, and Tina-Louise enter and close the door.)

TINA-LOUISE: Hey it looks like a party in here.

DAN: Hope we're not interupting anything.

CLIFFORD: (Chuckles)Heh-heh. Interupting.

TINA-LOUISE: I'm freezing.

KEN: Hi, Julia.

JULIA: Hi, Ken.

KEN: We're going to the pretzel knot later. Wanna come?

JULIA: Maybe.

DAN: Ken's trying to be smooth with the ladies.

CLIFFORD: King of the smoothies.

KEN: Shut up.

TINA-LOUISE: I just got my license. I can drive us.

JULIA: Okay.

DAN: Whassup, Lenny?

BENNY: Benny. My name is Benny.

JULIA: How's the sledding?

CLIFFORD: Awesome! I love sledding!

JULIA: How's your mom, Dan?

DAN: Okay.

TINA-LOUISE: Dan doesn't like to talk about his mom.

(The door opens again. more blizzard sounds Bucky and Franky enter.)

KEN: Hey close the door!

TINA-LOUISE: You're letting a draft in!

BUCKY/FRANKY: Sorry.

CLIFFORD: It's the twins.

EVERYONE: Hello twins.

BUCKY/FRANKY: Hello.

FRANKY: Wow, it's crowded in here.

TINA-LOUISE: If you're twins, how come you don't look alike?

BUCKY: We're fraternal.

EVERYONE: Ahh.

CLIFFORD: What's fraternal mean?

DAN: Why do you dress alike?

BUCKY: Our mother's crazy.

FRANKY: She has obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BUCKY: She makes us dress like this.

FRANKY: She also cleans her ears sixty-eight times a day.

BUCK/FRANKY: We don't like to talk about it.

CLIFFORD: Fraternal twins. That means attached right?

(Again the door opens. sounds of the blizzard. Edythe, Arno, and Vincent squeese in. Vincent has is chameleon.)

VINCENT: Excuse us. Pardon us.

FRANKY: Ow.

ARNO: Sorry.

TINA-LOUISE: Quit pushing me.

EDYTHE:(Fast talking) Oh-My-god-it's-so-crowded-in-here-isn't-it-crowded? I-think-it's-so-crowded.

BUCKY: Gross! Vincent brought his fro in here!

VINCENT: It's not a frog, it's a chameleon.

KEN: Anybody mind if I smoke?

BENNY: I have asthma.

DAN: You're a juvenile delinquent, Ken.

CLIFFORD: Big words are awesome!

(There's a knock at the door)

ARNO: Nobody in here but us chickens! Bock-bock!

(Again door opens, blizzard sounds)

EDYTHE:Oh-gosh-there's-no-room-and-people-keep-squeezing-in! I'm-totally-getting-claustrophobic.

(The all groan and squeese as Doofus, Jenna, and Helen squish their way in.)

DOOFUS: Hello, my royal subjects.

EVERYONE: Hello, King Doofus.

DOOFUS: At ease.

JENNA: It's cold out there.

HELEN: I just beamed Trey Patterson with a snow ball.

ARNO: Why'd you do that?

HELEN: Because he's a freak.

KEN: I think you're a freak.

HELEN: Well I think you're a freak, freak!

KEN: You're the one with the glass eye, freak!

HELEN: Leave my glass eye alone!

TINA-LOUISE: I think you're both freaks.

BUCKY: Gross! That lizard is starring at me!

VINCENT: His name is Jorge.

BENNY: I can't breath.

TINA-LOUISE: Does anyone think Trey Patterson is recluse?

CLIFFORD: What's a recluse?

VINCENT: Emily Dickinson was a recluse.

EDYTHE: Recluse-means-poet?

DOOFUS: Perhaps Trey is a descendant of Emily Dickinson.

FRANKY:Someone's stepping on my foot!

VINCENT: Did you know that almost all of Emily Dickinson's poems could be sung to the tune of yellow rose of texas?

BUCKY:(sunh to yellow rose of texas) Because I could not stop for death-he kindly stopped for me-

EVERYONE:(joining in) The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.

DAN: Hey that's cool.

CLIFFORD: Poetry is awesome.

(They all stand in silence. Someone sniffs.)

HELEN: Awwwww, No.

EDYTHE: Oh-gosh-someone-let-one-go!

TINA-LOUISE: Ewwwwwwwww.

(Assorted sounds of disgust.)

DAN: Was that you Lenny?

BENNY: My name is Benny.

DOOFUS: Sorry, folks. Breakfast burritos.

JENNA: I'm outta here.

(the door flies open. sound of blizzard as they all exit quickly and the lights fade.)


	4. The Woods

Scene 4: The Woods

(Trey in his bedroom, writing in his Journal)

TREY: This is weird, so I'll write it down. I was bored, so I went for a walk in the woods next to the golf course. Helen Spitzer threw a snowball at my head.

HELEN:(far off;) Hey Trey, you suck!

TREY: I just kept walking. I was all alone and I noticed something moving in a snowdrift. I thought maybe it was an animal.

(Lights cross-fade to the weoods. Trey is walking just as he described. There's a huge snowdrift that seems to be moving a little bit. Trey stops and watches it.) Hello? who's there? Hey! hey, shoo! (The moving continues) Are you hurt 'Cause I'll go call an ambulance if you need one. (Some of the snow starts to clear and we can make out a figure of a teenage boy, lying in the snow, making a snow angel. There's something ghostly about his appearance.) What are you doing? (The boy, Brendan, rises from the snowdrift. He stares at Trey.)

BRENDAN: What?

TREY: Are you alright?

BRENDAN: I think so.

TREY: What are you doing?

BRENDAN: I was.. I was..

TREY: Making a snow angel?

BRENDAN: Yes

TREY: Why?

BRENDAN: I don't know. My head hurts.

TREY: Should I call you a doctor?

BRENDAN: Have you seen whitestone?

TREY: What?

Brendan: Whitestone. Have you seen it?

TREY: No

BRENDAN: I've been looking for it, but I'm having trouble.

TREY: Whitestone?

BRENDAN: My head hurts.

TREY: You shouldn't lie in the snow like that, you'll get sick.

BRENDAN: It's important I find whitestone. Otherwise, I don't know what'll happen to me.

TREY: I've never heard of it.

BRENDAN: Is this Deerpoint?

TREY: Yes

BRENDAN: Well whitestone should be around here somewhere.

TREY: What's your name?

BRENDAN: Brendan.

TREY: You live around here?

BRENDAN: I need to go.

TREY: Why?

BRENDAN: Because I need to find whitestone.(Runs off.)

TREY: Where are you going? Brendan?!

(Lights go back to Trey reading his journal.)

TREY: He ran off, and I had to go to work. I man the counter at the Pretzel knot. I hate that place.


	5. The Ride

Scene 5: The Ride

(Lights up in Tina-lousie's car, she's driving erractically. Dan and Benny are in the from seat with her. Julia, Clifford and Ken are in the back seat. Loud music blares.)

JULIA: Turn down the music!

DAN: What?!

CLIFFORD: This song is awesome!

BENNY: I get migraines!

TINA-LOUISE: (Turnsdown the music) Better?

BENNY: Thanks.

CLIFFORD: That bites. That song needs to be cranked.

DAN: Shut up, ass-wipe.

CLIFFORD: You shut up.

TINA-LOUISE: Hey Ken, is it true you got mad at Jack Slavin, and set his go-kart on fire?

KEN: No. Who told you that?

Tina-Louise: Jack Slavin.

DAN: I heard the same thing. He said he wouldn't let you ride it, so you set it on fire when he went in for dinner.

KEN: That kid's a weasel. I didn't set anything on fire.

JULIA: How long have you had your license, Tina-Louise?

TINA-LOUISE: Three days.

KEN: And your parents let you drive in a blizzard?

TINA-LOUISE: My parents were snowed in at my grandma's lastnight. They're in connecticut.

JULIA: So, is that a yes, they do let you drive in a blizzard?

(They all scream, when the car swerves.)

TINA-LOUISE: Boy, these road are slippery, huh? Good think i have four-wheel drive.

CLIFFORD: Four-wheel drive is awesome.

BENNY: I want to get out. Can you pull over?

TINA-LOUISE: No, we're going to the pretzel knot.

DAN: Don't you like hot pretzels, Lenny?

JULIA: His name is Benny.

CLIFFORD: I love pretzels! I'm gonna eat me a giant cinnamon pretzel with chocolate sprinkle on top!

BENNY: I feel car sick.

TINA-LOUISE: You guys are my first official passengers.

KEN: Yikes.

JULIA: Is it true you were named after Tina Louise the television actress?

TINA-LOUISE: You mean the star of TV's "Gilligan's Island" protrayed movie star Ginger Grant so brilliantly for three consecutive seasons? Yes, I am her name sake.

BENNY: Hey look out for that volkswagen!

(They scream and swerve.)

TINA-LOUISE: VWs are so cute. I didn't even see it.

KEN: Hey, Julia. Your mother owns that bakery, right?

JULIA: Yeah.

KEN: You think you could give me a tour some time?

JULIA: I guess.

KEN: Cool, I'm thinking about becoming a baker.

JULIA: Really?

KEN: Yeah, I like the hat.

(Lights change suddenly. Benny reads from his journal.)

BENNY: I hate Ken. He doesn't wanna be a baker. He's a liar. I heard him tell Clifford just last week that he wanted to drive big rigs and see the country and deliver stuff. I hate him.

(Lights back to them in the car.)

CLIFFORD: When i grow up, I wanna own a jukebox factory. 'Cause jukeboxes are awesome.

DAN: Dude, you're scarying me.

JULIA: Hey there's the pretzel knot!

DAN: Slow down!

(She makes a sharp turn. They all scream. Blackout.)


	6. The Pretzel Knot

Scene 6: The Pretzel Knot

(Lights up on the Pretzel knot. Jenna and Trey are behind the counter in pretzel knot uniforms. The other teens are seated at tables. Doofus approaches the counter.)

JENNA: Welcome to the Pretzel know, my name is Jenna. Can I take your order?

DOOFUS: I know your name, stupid.

Jenna: I know you do, but i have to say that anyway.

DOOFUS: That's stupid.

JENNA: You're gonna get me fired. Do you want a pretzel or not?

DOOFUS: I'm here aren't I?

JENNA: Well then order.

DOOFUS: I wanna chocolate-covered pretzel.

JENNA:(calls to Trey) Chocolate-covered pretzel.

TREY:(Calls back) Chocolate-covered pretzel.(He gets it)

JENNA: Chocolate-covered pretzel. Anything else?

DOOFUS: A large orange fizzy.

JENNA:(Calls to Trey) Large orange fizzy.

TREY:(Calls back) Large orange fizzy.

JENNA: Large orange fizzy. Anything else?

DOOFUS: Yeah, Jenna loves Trey Patterson.

JENNA: (Calls without thinking)Jenna loves Trey Patterson.

TREY: (Calls back without thinking) Jenna loves Trey Patterson.

JENNA/TREY: What?!

EVERYONE: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

(Lights change Jenna reads from her journal.)

JENNA: Total humiliation at the pretzel. I don't love Trey Patterson. He's butt ugly. He was almost nice in seventh grade, and I could've liked him, but now he's a total pee-on and has no friends and I'd rather stick nails in my eyes than admit to liking him and that's what I said.

(Lights back to Pretzel Knot.)

JENNA: Trey's a total pee-on and has no friends and I'd rather stick nails in my eyes than admit to liking him!(to Trey) No offense.

TREY: None taken. One chocolate-covered pretzel and a large orange fizzy. Three fifty-two.

DOOFUS:(pays him:) Keep the change, Trey.

(Trey grabs his backpack and exits, angry.)

JENNA: Where are you going?

TREY: Taking my break!

JENNA: I can't man the counter alone!

(Lights change. Arno reads from his journal)

ARNO: I would never tell anyone, but I kinda like Trey.

(Lights back to the Pretzel Knot. We hear sreaching tires.)

FRANKY: What's that?

VINCENT: Look out the window.

EDYTHE: Oh-my-gosh-it's-Tina-Louise's-car!

HELEN: Should it be coming right at us like that?

(They all scream. Tires screeching to a stop. sound of car doors slamming.)

BUCKY: Wow. Close.

VINCENT: Should she be driving?

(Tina-Louise enters happily.)

EDYTHE: Really-nice-driving!

TINA-LOUISE: Thanks!

(Dan, Ken, Clifford, Julia, and Benny enter, obviously very shaken by the drive.)

JENNA: Welcome to the Pretzel Know, my name's Jenna, how can I take your order?

CLIFFORD:(Still paralyzed with fear:) One.. giant... cinnamon pretzel... with chocolate sprinkles.

JENNA: Are you okay?

CLIFFORD: Just get me the pretzel!

(Black Out.)


	7. The Break

Scene 7: The Break

(Lights up out back. Trey write in his journal.)

TREY: I'm gonna sprinkle rat poison on their pretzels and tell them It's powdered sugar. I can't wait to move away and level this stupid town.

(Brendan appears. He's been listening.)

TREY: What are you looking at?

BRENDAN: You're very angry.

TREY: Mind your own bussiness, weirdo. Why aren't you making snow angels somewhere?

BRENDAN: I'm finished with that.

TREY: Where'd you come from anyway?

BRENDAN: I don't know. You shouldn't let those kids make you mad. they just think they're being funny.

TREY: Well they're not.

BRENDAN: So tell them they hurt your feelings and maybe they'll quit.

TREY: They didn't hurt my feelings.

BRENDAN: Alright.

TREY: And they wouldn't quit anyway. You don't even know them. Go away.

BRENDAN: I like your name.

TREY: What?

BRENDAN: Trey. It's a nice name.

TREY: You're nuts.

(Pause)

I was name after Trey Gunn. You know him?

BRENDAN: No.

TREY: No one does. he's a known violinist, famous for playing classical music. Which makes no sense since I don't have a musical bone in my body.

BRENDAN: Have you seen whitestone?

TREY: Quit asking me that.

BRENDAN: Sorry.

TREY: You're so annoying. What is it, a gas station or something?

BRENDAN: No.

TREY: Maybe you're confusing it with the white castle the burger place?

BRRENDAN: It's a farm.

TREY: A farm?

BRENDAN: The whitestone farm. It's where I live.

TREY: Oh. Not a lot of farms around here, wait you forgot where you live?

BRENDAN: No. I was looking for my little brother in the woods, but I couldn't find him, so I decided to go back home because he maybe there, but now I don't know where it is. My home, I mean.

TREY: Do you have amnesia?

BRENDAN: I don't know.

TREY: It happened during the blizzard?

BRENDAN: The snow was up to my waist, but I saw something gray in the woods. I thought it was my brother's clothes, maybe it was just a rabbit. And I ran towards it, and the snow was getting deeper, but I kept runnung, and then a hole opened up under me. And there was snow all around me, and I was falling, but I was sleeping at the same time. And when I woke up, I made a snow angel, and then I saw you.

TREY: That's screwy. Are you on any kind of medication?

BRENDAN: So you don't have any friends?

TREY: What?

BRENDAN: There's nothing wrong with that, I didn't really have any either. I was at the farm all the time, so it was just me working in the field with my Dad.

TREY: Whatever.

BRENDAN: I'll be your friend if you help me find whitestone.

TREY: I don't even know what you're talking about.

BRENDAN: I need to go.

TREY: Hold on. I'm gonna call the police for you.

BRENDAN: No, I have to go.

(Brendan exits. Trey looks after him, perplexed. he writes some more in his journal as the lights cross-fad back to the Pretzel Knot.)


	8. The Journal

Scene 8: The Journal

(Everyone is seated and eating pretzels. Jenna is still behind the counter.)

TINA-LOUISE: In 1975, she appeared in the much-maligned cult favorite, The stepford wives, as well as God's little Acre, a 1958 drama which co-starred Jack Lord and Buddy Hackett. So it wasn't just Gilligan's Island. She did some fine work on the silver screen as well.

(Trey enters with his backpack, crosses.)

JENNA: It's about time. We have customers here. Where are you going?

TREY: To the bathroom, you mind? (puts down his backpack and exits)

JENNA: Wait'll Mark comes back! I'm gonna tell him you took a long break!

BUCKY: Who's Mark?

JENNA: He's the manager. He's at the mall getting his tongue pierced.

JULIA: Eww, That's sick.

CLIFFORD: I think it's awesome.

VINCENT: Hey, where's my twenty dollars?

ARNO: What?

VINCENT: I had twenty dollars in my coat pocket.

HELEN: Ken five him his twenty bucks back.

KEN: Why do you automatically accuse me?

HELEN: Because you steal stuff.

KEN: Shut up glass eye.

HELEN: Hey, I'm not the one who got caught shoplifting a Justin Bieber CD at the wal-mart.

KEN: That was never proven!

(Lights change. Arno reads from his journal.)

ARNO: I would never admit it, but I kinda like Justin Bieber.

(Lights back to normal.)

VINCENT: Just gimme my money, buttmunch.

KEN: I didn't take it.

VINCENT: I need that money to buy the new star wars movie!

KEN: I saw Trey hanging around your coat. Maybe he took it.

EDYTHE: Trey-didn't-take-his-money.

KEN: You don't know, so shut up. check his bag.

BUCKY: Wait until he gets back.

KEN: No, everybody's accusing me. Chek his bag.

JENNA: I'll check it. (She does)

KEN: Thank you. Everybody'sso quick to blame me just because I live in a trailer park.

HELEN: You don't live in a trailer park.

KEN: Well I used to!

JENNA: No money. Here's his journal though.

(Silence. They all look at each other.)

FRANKY: Should we read it?

KEN: Yeah!

BENNY: I don't think we should.

CLIFFORD: Read it, Jenna.

JULIA: How'd you like it if someone read your journal?

CLIFFORD: I wouldn't care. It doesn't say anything. (Clifford pulls out his journal. Lights change.)

CLIFFORD: says these journals are private so she'll just flip through to make sure we wrote something, but she won't read what it is. Blaaaah. Eckey-micker-ddooop-peeper. Xzeerrre-reeerly. I hate homework. Blah. Blah. cats sick. Meeeepww-ouch! I'm just writing anything, to fill up pages. Fla-fla-bla-bla-blooey. Crackymacky! Twix. I love Twix bars. Twix bars taste good. cookie crunch. Twix twix twix. Gotta get me some candy. Twix Rule! Twix make ya fat! Gimme some twix fat boy! writing is fun. The end. (Lights back to the pretzel knot.)

CLIFFORD: See? No big deal. I read mine. It doesn't say anything.

BUCKY: That's because you're an idiot.

CLIFFORD: Hey!

HELEN: Gimme his journal. I'll read it.

(Jenna hands Helen the journal.)

FRANKY: Hurry up, he's gonna come back.

BUCKY: Don't enourage them, Franky.

VINCENT: When do I get my money back?

KEN: Shut about the money. This is more important.

HELEN: (Reading from Trey's journal;) "I was alone and I noticed something moving in a snowdrift. I thought maybe it was an animal. But it was a boy, about my age, and I asked him what he was doing. He said his head hurt and he was looking for something called Whitestone and his name was Brendan."

(Lights change, Kids take turns reading from their own journals.)

JULIA: We shouldn't have been reading it out-loud like that. It was totally private and nobody's business.

TINA-LOUISE: I should've said something, but it was kind of interesting so I just sat and listened like everyone else.

BUCKY: I think Trey was making the boy up for fun.

EDYTHE: I-think-it's-like-an-imaginary-friend-because-he-doesn't-have-any-real-ones.

DOOFUS: Maybe it was one of those shows where they hide video cameras and play tricks on people, and that lost boy is really an actor and Trey is gonna be on TV and be all embarrassed.

(Lights back to the pretzel knot. Helen is reading from Trey's journal.)

HELEN: "And Brendan ran off again. I think he might need help."

(Trey enters unnoticed.)

HELEN: "I have to go back into the pretzel store and face those morons now. Breaks over. I hate this job."

TREY: What are doing?

HELEN: Oh, I was just-

FRANKY: Someone stole twenty bucks from Vincent-

BUCKY: And everyone kept blaming Ken-

JENNA: But Ken said he didn't take the money-

TREY: Why are you reading my journal?

HELEN: Clifford made me read it.

CLIFFORD: No I didn't.

TREY: Give it to me.

(Helen hands him the journal.)

CLIFFORD: I didn't make her read it.

DAN: Who's that guy you were writing about?

TREY: None of you business.

ARNO: Is it a story?

TREY: No

BENNY: You really saw him?

TREY: Jenna, I'm going home.

JENNA: You can't go home. You work to six.

TREY: Tell Mark I left. He can fire me if he wants to.

JENNA: But Trey...

TREY: Bye. (Exits)

JULIA: I told you we shouldn't have read it. He's gonna tell .

KEN: So what?

DAN: This place blows.

TINA-LOUISE: I'm taking off.

EDYTHE: Me too.

DOOFUS: See ya.

(They all exit, saying goodbye.)

JENNA: I'm always left alone.

(Lights out on the Pretzel Knot.)


	9. The Sightings

Scene 9: The Sightings

(Trey reading from his journal.)

TREY: I don't care what they thought. They could all go to hell. Brendan was real. I wasn't crazy. And he kept popping up. Which really bugged me. The second day of the blizzard, he showed up in my garage, wanting to know if I had found whitestone yet. He wouldn't shut up about it. The third day, he was up in a tree seeing if he could get a better view. And the fourth day... The fourth day I was walking to the library when:

(Tina-Louise appears with her journal.)

TINA-LOUISE: Hey! Trey! Trey Patterson!

TREY: Are you talking to me?

TINA-LOUISE: Guess what?

TREY: You never talk to me.

TINA-LOUISE: Yeah, don't tell anyone about this. But guess what?

TREY: What?

TINA-LOUISE: I saw Brendan! (Long pause.)

TREY: No you didn't

TINA-LOUISE: I did. I wrote about it in my journal. Listen, "Dear journal, guess who was standing in my driveway?"

(Lights change. We're in TINA-LOUISE'S driveway. she and BRENDAN are here.)

BRENDAN: Hello. I like your coat.

TINA-LOUISE: Thank you, what are you doing in my driveway?

BRENDAN: Just standing. You're very pretty.

TINA-LOUISE: Yes, I've been told that.

BRENDAN: Have you seen a farm, or a little boy named Caleb?

TINA-LOUISE: No.

BRENDAN: I didn't think so. Nobody has.

TINA-LOUISE: Aren't you cold?

BRENDAN: Yes, I've been outside for four days now.

TINA-LOUISE: Are you homeless?

BRENDAN: In a way.

TINA-LOUISE: Well that's no good. Would you like to come inside?

BRENDAN: Your house?

TINA-LOUISE: My parents are still snowed in, in connecticut. or so they say. I think they've abandoned me. Isn't that hysterical?

BRENDAN: Are you trying to be funny?

TINA-LOUISE: I don't know. Am I?

BRENDAN: Do you have hot chocolate?

TINA-LOUISE: I sure do. And I've got an Xbox too. Do you wanna play Xbox?

BRENDAN: I guess.

TINA-LOUISE: Come on.

(Lights out on them and back up on Trey.)

TINA-LOUISE: See, I wrote it all down in my journal, so it must be true.

TREY: Just because you wrote it down, doesn't mean-

TINA-LOUISE: Bye, Trey!

(Tina-Louise exits as Helen enters.)

TREY:(Calls after Tina-Louise;) I think you saw somebody else! A different boy!

HELEN: Hey, guess who I saw, Trey?

TREY: Don't talk to me. My head still hurts from that snowball.

HELEN: Brendan was standing i the middle of my street this morning.

TREY: No, he wasn't. He was with me.

HELEN: say to write down everything we see. So I did. Look at my journal. It says right here. "Brendan, what are you doing in the middle of the street?"

(Suddenly we're in the scene.)

HELEN: Brendan, what are you doing in the middle of the street?

BRENDAN: Just standing here, looking up. How do you know my name?

HELEN: Trey told me all about you.

BRENDAN: Don't you think Trey's sort of freaky?

TREY: He didn't say that!

HELEN: Yes he did. I wrote it down.

TREY: He doesn't even talk like that!

HELEN: Don't interrupt my journal entry.

BRENDAN: Hey, why do you have a glass eye?

HELEN: My brother shot me with a bee-bee gun when I was six.

BRENDAN: Did he get in trouble?

HELEN: Yeah. It was an accident though, so I forgave him. But if we get in a fight, I bring it up again, and it usually shuts him up.

BRENDAN: Do you think it'll ever stop snowing?

HELEN: My father say Sammy Davis Jr. had a glass eye, and he was one of the most talented men in America.

BRENDAN: Do people make fun of it?

HELEN: Sometimes. But if they do, I take my eye out and hold it up and say "I'm looking at you! this is my evil eye! I curse your family and all of its descendants!"

BRENDAN: WOW.

HELEN: And then I op it back in and run away. My father says that's weird and I should stop it, but sometimes I can't help it. Do you wanna see it?

BRENDAN: No thanks. (Beat) My little brother's blind. His name is Caleb.

HELEN: Really?

BRENDAN: Yeah, He was born that way. That's why I was worried when I couldn't find him. I thought he ran out into the blizzard and got lost, but maybe he didn't. I was the one who got lost, and now I can't find my way back to whitestone.

HELEN: Maybe I can help you.

(Brendan disappears. We're back with Trey and Helen.)

TREY: Everyone knows you're a big liar. He would never call me freaky. He could never tell you all that stuff. You never saw Brendan.

HELEN: I did. And so did Doofus. He just told me he was cracking jokes at the 7-11.

TREY: The 7-11?

BRENDAN: Okay, so this guy walks into a bar, right?

DOOFUS:(Laughing hysterically:) Oh please, no more. You're killing me!

BRENDAN: And he orders a drink. He's sitting there and suddenly he hears this whisper "Psst, nice tie."

DOOFUS:(Still laughing:) Nice tie!

BRENDAN: He looks, doesn't see anything. Another minute goes by, he hears another whisper "I like your shoes."

DOOFUS: Shoes! Woo-hoo!

BRENDAN: Then another whisper "That's a snazzy jacket." He finally asks the bartender what's going on.

DOOFUS: What did the bartender say?

BRENDAN: "Didn't you see the sign? the peanuts are complimentary."

(Doofus screams with laughter. Lights out on them and up on Ken reading from his journal.)

KEN: I saw him too. He wasn't all like the others described him. He broke into my house and stole a carton of smokes from under my old man's bed. I caught him rummaging through my cupboard for food.

(Brendan is suddenly rummaging through his cupboard.)

KEN: Can I help you?

BRENDAN: Yeah. Scrounge me up some peanut butte. I'm starving.

KEN: We don't have any peanut butter.

BRENDAN: That's alright. These crackers should hold me over for a while. (Eats crackers ravenously.)

KEN: A little hungry?

BRENDAN: I've been livin' on twigs and berries for four freakin' days. 'Course I'm hungry. (Eats some more.) Ken, right? Your name's Ken?

KEN: Yeah.

BRENDAN: I saw you steal that twenty bucks.

KEN: What?

BRENDAN: From Vincent at the pretzel knot. He got up to get a napkin and you swiped his dough.

KEN: No I didn't.

BRENDAN: You're going to hell.

KEN: Who are you?

BRENDAN: I'm Brendan. I live in the woods in a hallowed out tree and I can see into the future.

KEN: Oh yeah?

BRENDAN: Yeah. And you're going to hell, Ken.

KEN: No I'm not.

BRENDAN: The money you stole. The CDs from the Wal-Mart. Your Dad's bomber jacket. That's no good(He shoves him.)

KEN: Hey, don't push me.

BRENDAN: I'll push you if I want to.(He pushes him again.)

KEN: Ow.

BRENDAN: And what about that birdhouse you set on fire? And 's mail box? You're bit of a pyro, Ken.(Shoves him agian.) You better stop being bad, or I'm gonna tell everyone.

KEN: No one will believe you.

BRENDAN: I'll make sure you never set anything on fire again, Ken, or steal.

KEN: How?

BRENDAN: I'll haunt you in your dreams.

KEN: What?

BRENDAN: Every night I'll send awful, horrifying images to you in yout dreams until you finally confss to what you did.

KEN: Mom!

BRENDAN: You better be good, Ken. Cause I'm watching.

(He disappears. Light suddenly shift to the pretzel knot. Trey and Jenna are behind the , Bucky and Franky are with Ken, who's just told his story.)

TREY: He didn't say that!

KEN: Yes he did.

VINCENT: You're the one who set 's mail box on fire?

KEN: No. Brendan just said I did. I think he did it himself.

TREY: Brendan didn't set anything on fire!

BUCKY: Brendan said I have cool hair.

TREY: No he didn't.

FRANKY: We played Pokemon go together.

JENNA: He said I have beautiful eyes. We have a date on thursday.

VINCENT: He told me, he's just like Jorge. A chameleon. Many things to many people.

TREY: He's not a chameleon! He's one way! He's my way! You're all liars. I'm the only one who's seen him.

BUCKY: How do you know, Trey?

TREY: He would never threaten Ken like that.

KEN: Well, he did. What do you know about him anyway? He's a stranger. He's capable of anything.

VINCENT: You think He's dangerous?

KEN: I just know, I'm not going near him again.

TREY: Good. Stay away from him. All of you.

(Lights cross-fade to the shed. Brendan's with Benny.)

BRENDAN: You like her, Benny?

BENNY: Who?

BRENDAN: Julia. The girl who smells like cupcakes.

BENNY: I guess so.

BRENDAN: Why don't you tell her then?

BENNY: 'Cause I don't want to.

BRENDAN: Why don't you ask her to go ice skating?

BENNY: My skates are busted.

BRENDAN: Why are you so shy?

BENNY: I don't know.

BRENDAN: If you help me find my way home, I'll put in a good word for you.

BENNY: You will?

BRENDAN: Sure.

(The shed door flies open and somehow Brendan disappears, maybe behind the door, Just as Trey enters.)

TREY: Who are you talking to in here?

BENNY: Brendan. He was just in here.

TREY: Where? I don't see him.

BENNY: He must've slipped outside.

TREY: Liars! you're all liars!

(Lights cross-fade to Arno, Vincent, and Edythe.)

VINCENT: I bet we'd get an award.

EDYTHE: For-what?

VINCENT: If we found him and brought him in.

ARNO: To who?

VINCENT: The authorities. I bet he's a runaway.

EDYTH: I-think-he's- an -ever- elusive-leprechaun.

VINCENT: If we started an all-out search, sread the word, and saved this guy, we'd be heroes.

ARNO: But maybe he doesn't want to be saved.

VINCENT: Arno, start you computer. I'll call the radio station. Edythe, thake your hyperactivity pill.

EDYTHE: Oh-my-gosh-i-almost-forgot-to-take-my-pill. My-mother-would-be-so-mad-and-I'd-be-acting-totally-crazy-all-the-time. Thanks-Vincent!

(Lights out on them and up on the shed. Brendan's here with Julia.)

BRENDAN: And Benny helped me look up in the hills, and we found a hammer, which looks just like my Dad's old hammer, so I think I must be getting close.

JULIA: Did you try city hall? I bet we can find some info at city hall.

BRENDAN: I think Benny likes you.

JULIA: What?

BRENDAN: I'm pretty sure he does.

JULIA: Why, what'd he say?

BRENDAN: Just some stuff.

JULIA: What stuff? Really? He said something? When? He's sweet.

BRENDAN: That's what he said about you.

JULIA: Why's he always sniffing me?

BRENDAN: He likes you. You should ask him to ice skate.

JULIA: He should ask me.

BRENDAN: He's too shy.

JULIA: I'll think about it. That's all.

(The shed door flies open and Trey leaps in, but Brendan's already disappeared. Julia looks around suspiciously)

TREY: Liars! All liars!


	10. The Research

Scene 10: The Research

(Lights cross-fade to several kids reading from their journals.)

BUCKY: I found a old photo of a school house, and Brendan said it was his school.

JENNA: My Dad said the Olson house was built on old farmland, but Brendan said it couldn't be the same land.

CLIFFORD: I went walking in the woods but couldn't find anything. Brendan was disappointed.

TINA-LOUISE: I found an old hinge that was maybe part of a barn door.

FRANKY: I found a spike.

DOOFUS: I found a rusty bucket.

DAN: I think I'm the only person who hasn't seen Brendan. I've spent a lot of time visiting my mom though, so maybe that's why. Maybe Brendan doesn't like hospitals. i know I don't.

(Lights cross-fade to Trey's bedroom. He's flipping through an old atlas. Brendan is nearby.)

TREY: Making a lot of friends I hear.

BRENDAN: Yeah. The kids are really nice around here. I'm surprised you don't get along with them.

TREY: You don't know them as well as I do.

BRENDAN: What's that book?

TREY: An atlas of wisconsin. It's a 100 years old. I got it at the library. I thought it might help you.

BRENDAN: Yeah?

TREY: Maybe. Here's the Deerpoint section.

BRENDAN: Look up Whitestone Farm. It's down the from Dunbar Farm.

(Cross fade Arno's computer. Vincent and Edythe, sit on either side of him.)

VINCENT: Type in Deerpoint public Library archives.

ARNO: Okay.

EDYTHE: Oh-look-the-Deerpoint-Gazette. Go-there.

VINCENT: They have back issues online. Search headlines.

EDYTHE: Type-in-whitestone-farm!

ARNO:(Typing) Alright. Whitestone... Farm.

VINCENT: Now hit search.

EDYTHE: I-love-computers.

ARNO: It's doing something.

(Back to Trey and Brendan with atlas.)

TREY: Your dad's a farmer?

BRENDAN: Yeah. A Dairy farmer. He gets up before the sun. I get up a little bit after and go to help him. My mom brings us our lunch. I don't see her again until we come in for dinner. See anything yet?

TREY: No, The print's so little.

BRENDAN: And then we go straight to bed. My Dad's getting old and he needs help with the cows and the crops, So I try to help him as much as I can. But he doesn't talk to me much. Does you dad talk to you?

TREY: He lives in California.

BRENDAN: How come?

TREY: My parents are divorced.

(Back to Computer)

VINCENT: Two items. "Whitestone Farm Foreclosure" or Davisson boy disappears."

EDYTHE: Hit-the-disappearing-boy.

ARNO: "Febuary third, 1891."

EDYTHE: Old.

ARNO: "Among the many unsolved myseries of Deerpoint, Wisconsin involves the fifteen-year-old son of Jack and Bethany Davisson."

VINCENT: "The boy went into the woods in the middle of a blizzard to find his lttile brother, not aware that Caleb was playing in the family attic."

EDYHTE: "It-was-the-biggest-blizzard-in-the-history-of-the-town-and-the-teenager-disappeared-without-a-trace. His name was Brendan."

(Back to Trey and Brendan)

BRENDAN: What's divorced mean?

TREY: It means they don't like each other anymore.

BRENDAN: Oh. Why isn't you mom here then?

TREY: She works 2 jobs. She answers phones at the hospital during the day. And three nights a week she teaches a ceramics class.

BRENDAN: So you're alone most of the time?

TREY: Not since you showed up.

BRENDAN: Oh yeah.

TREY: (Nose in the atlas:) Oh here's something! Whitestone Road! It crosses Orchard Street. There's still an Orchard Street. They must've renamed whitestone road! Is this your farm here? This patch of green?

BRENDAN: Yes.

TREY: Well I know where Orchard street is. We can go find it.

BRENDAN: I already did.

TREY: What?

(Back to Computer.)

VINCENT: Hey look at the bottom. There's a osting to the librarian.

ARNO: "Did they ever find him?" signed TreyPatt .

EDYTHE: What'd-the-librarian-say?

ARNO: "We have no other articles about the lost boy."

VINCENT: It's dated last week, before the blizzard even hit.

EDYTHE: Weird.

ARNO: I think Trey stole this story.

VINCENT: What?

ARNO: He saw this and then made Brendan up.

EDYTHE: But-Vincent-said-he-saw-Brendan.

VINCENT: Uhhh... Everyone said they saw him. Not just me.

ARNO: And the radio guy said he announce a search for him tonight.

EDYTHE: But-if-there-is-no-Brendan, then-why-are-we-searching?

(Back to Brendan and Trey)

BRENDAN: I found it. I recognized the hill. And I recognized a tree I used to climb. It's much bigger, but I can tell it's the same tree. And there are houses everywhere, but I know it's the same hill. Maybe they moved the farm. Can people do that? Can people move buildings?

TREY: I guess so.

BRENDAN: Well maybe that's what they did.

TREY: Maybe.

BRENDAN: What time is it?

TREY: Noon.

BRENDAN: Shoot. I gotta go.

TREY: Where?

BRENDAN: To see a couple people. I'll talk to you later though, okay?

TREY: Okay.

(Brendan turns to go.)

TREY: I'm still your favorite, right?

BRENDAN: What?

TREY: Nothing. Go hang out with your friends. I'll be here.

BRENDAN: Are you okay?

TREY: Yeah. Fine.

BRENDAN: Alright. Bye.

(Brendan exits. Trey picks up his journal and writes in it as the lights fade.)


	11. The Search

Scene 11: The Search

(In the darkness we hear the voice of radio guy again)

RADIO GUY: This Just in. Several reports are coming out of the town of Deerpoint about a 15-year-old boy by the name of Brendan, who may be delusional and wandering through the woods. Reports are sketchy but local authorities are organizing a search party in hopes of finding the boy and bring him into custody, where they'll give him the medical attention he needs. A reward has been posted by the town selectmen. All volunteers are welcome to join in the search for this boy. He needs our help.

(Sounds of sirens. Bloodhounds barking. Flashlights everywhere. It's sundown and the town is combing the woods for any sign of Brendan. Everywhere people are calling out his name.)

JENNA: Brenndaann...

ARNO: Brenndaann...

DOOFUS: I jave another joke for you.

HELEN: We'll get you help, Brendan.

TINA-LOUISE: We'll find you home.

FRANKY: You won't have to sleep in the snow anymore.

EDYTHE: Brenndaann...

TREY: Brendan, don't be scared! I don't know why they're doing this! Just follow my voice, Brendan, and I'll get you out of here!

(Lights cross-fade to Clifford and Dan, ice fishing in the middle of the pond, It's dusk. We hear the search going on the woods.)

CLIFFORD: You get anything?

DAN: Not yet.

CLIFFORD: Ice fishing sucks, You wanna go?

DAN: Not yet.

CLIFFORD: It's getting dark. Don't you wanna help with the search?

DAN: Not really.

CLIFFORD: Ken said Brendan has an ax.

DAN: Ken's a dumb-ass.

(They fish in silence for a couple beats. we hear "Brenndaann" in the backround.)

DAN: I don't think there is a Brendan. I've never seen him.

CLIFFORD: That's because you've been so busy with your mom.

DAN: Maybe.

CLIFFORD: Is she feeling any better?

DAN: Not really.

CLIFFORD: when does she come home?

DAN: I don't know.

CLIFFORD: They giving her anymore tests?

DAN: Nope.

(Pause)

CLIFFORD: I'm freezing. You wanna go?

DAN: Not untill i get something.

(They sit in silence. Far in the distance, Brendan runs by silently.)

CLIFFORD: Did you see that?

DAN: No, what?

CLIFFORD: The cold is making me hallucinate.

DAN: You wanna play skee-ball tomorrow?

CLIFFORD: I guess.

(Pause)

DAN: My mom said to say hi, by the way.

CLIFFORD: Oh, tell her I said hi too. And I hope she feels better.

DAN: Okay. I'll tell her. (Beat.) You know, if you need to get home for dinner, you can go.

CLIFFORD: Nah, I'm good.

DAN: You sure?

CLIFFORD: Yeah. They won't even miss me.

(They fish in silence as the lights fade back to the search.)

BUCKY: Brenndaann...

TINA-LOUISE: I got a new Xbox game. And my parents still haven't come home!

ARNO: Brenndaann...

JENNA: I'll give you free pretzels.

HELEN: Brenndaann...

TREY: Brendan, I know I'm the only one you can really hear. So meet me at the clearing! Brendan?! Meet me at the clearing!

(The voices continue on as the lights cross-fade to the shed. Benny's inside. The door opens, the wind howls. Julia enters.)

JULIA: Oh, sorry. I didn't know anyone was in here.

BENNY: That's Okay.

JULIA: It's cold, so i was just taking a break from the search.

BENNY: Me too.

JULIA: You seen him?

BENNY: Not tonight.

JULIA: Me either.

BENNY: So...

JULIA: So.

BENNY: Nothing.

JULIA: Okay.

(He sniffs her hair but is caught.)

BENNY: Allergies.

(The door opens again. Wind howls. We hear people calling "Brenndaann." Ken enters.)

KEN: Oh... hey guys.

JULIA: Hi

KEN: Joining in the search?

JULIA: Yeah.

KEN: Me too.

JULIA: Cool.

KEN: Whassup, Benny?

BENNY: Nothin'.

KEN: Hey Julia, I've been meaning to ask you, do you wanna go snow-tubing tomorrow?

JULIA: Snow tubing?

KEN: Yeah, I just got a new inner-tube and wanna try it out.

JULIA: That's weird because Jenna was saying that someone stole her inner tube from the garage.

KEN: Oh yeah?

JULIA: Aren't you neighbors?

KEN: Do you wanna go or not?

JULIA: Well... I promised Benny I'd go ice skatting with him tomorrow.

KEN: Oh.

JULIA: Sorry.

KEN: What about the next day?

BENNY: We're going ice skatting that day too, right?

JULIA: Uhh... right.

KEN: Oh, I see. It's like that.

JULIA: I remember Helen saying she wanted to try snow-tubing, maybe you could call her.

KEN: Yeah. Whatever.

JULIA: We just made plans.

KEN: How about you both drop dead, okay!

JULIA: Ken...

KEN: (Laughing;) Kidding! I'm gonna go back to the search. I'll catch you guys later.(Exits shed.)

BENNY: Weird.

JULIA: Yeah, very weird.

BENNY: So...

JULIA: So.

BENNY: You...uh...

JULIA: What?

BENNY: Guess we're going ice skating tomorrow?

JULIA: I guess so.

BENNY: Great. We'll meet on the pond at noon?

JULIA: Yeah.

BENNY: Okay. Bye.

(Benny exits. Julia's alone. she sniffs her hair. The light cross-fades to the woods. People are calling out "Brenndaann." Brendan is running. He's out of breath and has to stop. Trey finds him.)

TREY: Brendan?

BRENDAN: Why are they chasing me?

TREY: You shouldn't have talked to all those kids, I told you they were jerks.

BRENDAN: I need to catch my breath.

TREY: You should've been my secret.

BRENDAN: Well if you hadn't written about me-

TREY: They weren't supposed to read my journal.

BRENDAN: Well they did!

(In the distance we see Ken run by with a gasoline can.)

TREY: You have to get out of the woods.

BRENDAN: I wanna go home now.

TREY: You can stay in my basement. There's a pullout couch.

BRENDAN: No, to my real home. Helen said she's almost found it.

TREY: What?

BRENDAN: And I can stay with her until she does. She has a guest bedroom in her house. And It's much nicer than your musty basement.

TREY: Well, I'll sleep in the basement, you can sleep in my bed.

BRENDAN: Helen said she's very close to finding whitestone.

TREY: Where is it then?

BRENDAN: She didn't say but she's very close.

TREY: And where is you blind little brother?

BRENDAN: What?

TREY: Go to Helen! If she knows so much! I don't care!

BRENDAN: Why are you talking like that?

TREY: She's not gonna find your family any faster than me! She can't see a farm any better! She's only got one eye!

BRENDAN: Helen's much nicer than you are!

TREY: You'll never find your brother!

BRENDAN: You're just a mean lonely boy! You shut everyone out! No wonder everyone hates you Trey Patterson!

TREY: Your house is gone, Brendan! So's your farm!

BRENDAN: No, it isn't!

TREY: The bank foreclosed in 1894, It was all torn down.

BRENDAN: Shut up!

TREY: Your father died two years later and then your mom in 1904. Caleb was put in a home for the blind where he contracted pneumonia and passed away when he was sixteen.

BRENDAN: You're a liar!

TREY: It's in the newspapers in the library, I can show you.

BRENDAN: I don't wanna see it!

TREY: You're a ghost, Brendan. Or something else I don't know what you are. But you're not gonna find anything around here because there's nothing left!

(Brendan runs off.)

TREY: Brendan! Come back! I'm sorry! Brendan!

VOICES: Brenndaann...Brenndaann...Brenndaann...

TREY: Brendan!

(The wind howls.)


	12. The Fire

Scene: 12 The Fire

(Lights come up on Julia inside the shed. She's about to leave, but door seems to be locked, we hear voices calling outside.)

JULIA: Hey, you guys! Open the door! Someone locked me in! Guys?!

(She's banging on the door to get out. Smoke starts to appear. She sniffs and realizes that maybe the shed's on fire.) Help! You guys?! There;s smoke in here. Someone let me out! I think the shed's on fire! Open the door! Someone help! Fire! Fire!

(The shed door is yanked open, The wind howls more. Ken has freed Julia.)

KEN: Come on!

JULIA: Someone locked me in!

(Julia, and Ken run into the open air. The shed burns. All the kids come running.)

DOOFUS: What happened?

JULIA: Someone locked me in the shed and set it on fire.

KEN: I heared her screaming so I came to help her.

TINA-LOUISE: Why would someone do that?

HELEN: I think it was Ken!

KEN: I saved her, freak!

BENNY: He's just jealous that I'm ice skating with Julia.

KEN: I could care less.

BUCKY: You're ice skating with Julia?

CLIFFORD: I dub Benny king of the smoothies!

BENNY: I'm not a smoothie.

KEN: I didn't set the shed on fire.

VINCENT: Sure you didn't. Just like you didn't steal my twenty dollars.

KEN: Brendan, set the shed on fire.

(Pause)

TREY: What did you say?

KEN: It was Brendan. I saw him running with a can of gasoline.

JENNA: When?

KEN: Just a little while ago. I was chasing him and he was yelling "Julia's bad! Julia's bad!"

JULIA: Why would he say that?

KEN: I don't know but he ran out onto the pond, and there was hole out there.

CLIFFORD: We were just ice fishing there.

KEN: And Brendan fell in the hole in the ice because he didn't see it. He fell in.

VINCENT: He fell in the hole?

KEN: Yeah, and I tried to help him, but he kept slipping underwater, and I couldn't get a grip on him and he just... disappeared. He drowned. He died.

(Pause)

TREY: That's a lie.

KEN: We should get the police over here. Maybe they can find the body.

TREY: He's lying!

KEN: You're just upset because he was your friend.

TREY: You locked Julia in the shed.

KEN: Brendan admitted it when he was splashing in the ice!

TREY: You set the shed on fire. You did that, bot Brendan!

KEN: He felt bad and he told me to go help Julia.

TREY: You let Julia out so you would look like the hero, but you're not!

KEN: Brendan did it, and he fell through the ice! And he's dead!

TREY: No, he isn't! You can't do that!

KEN: Don't blame me.

TREY: You're not allowed to kill him off like that!

KEN: What are you talking about?

TREY: You can't kill him off!

KEN: I'm sorry. He's dead.

(They all take this in, silence.)

ARNO: He's not dead. He's... He's bit dead because he never existed. Trey made him up. I wouldn't normally say anything but-

EDYTHE: We-were-searching-on-the-computer-and-we-found-these-old-newspaper-articles-and-Trey-stole-the-story.

TREY: I didn't steal the story! Vincent, you said you saw him yourself.

VINCENT: I lied. I mean... everyone else was saying they saw him so...

TREY: Tina-louise played Xbox with him!

TINA-LOUISE: I just needed something to write in my journal. I thought that's what we were doing. Isn't that what we were doing?

TREY: What about the jokes he cracked at the 7-11?!

DOOFUS: Yeah, I just needed something for my journal too.

TREY: See?! I told you that you were all liars! I knew it! But I saw him! I saw him!

JULIA: Who set the shed on fire if it wasn't Brendan?

KEN: It was Brendan! I saw him too. And he fell in the ice and he's dead!

TREY: He's not dead. Because I saw him fall in , but I ran to him and when I got to the hole he popped up again.

KEN: Come on...

TREY: And he was shivering and we and almost dead, but not quite. And I pulled him out of the pond and helped him off the ice and we made it to the woods.

KEN: Do you believe this crap?

DAN: No, he's right.

CLIFFORD: He is?

DAN: Yeah. I saw Trey and Brendan in the woods, and Brendan was wet. You remember, Trey? And we put our coats on him, to keep him warm?

TREY: Yeah...Right. We did.

DAN: And we rubbed his hands and his face, and we kept talking to him, and he started to warm up.

TREY: Right. And I apologized to Brendan for a fight we had. And he said he forgave me.

CLIFFORD: And that's when I showed up with a thermos of soup.

TINA-LOUISE: And I had a blanket that had been in my car.

HELEN: And I let him borrow my gloves.

EDYTHE: Wait-I'm-totally-confused-I-thought-there-was-no-Brendan.

JULIA: No, we all helped him get warm.

BENNY: You got this story all wrong, Ken.

KEN: Shut up!

VINCENT: So...Where is he now then?

TREY: He's gone. These strange lights appeared.

VINCENT: Lights? Like space ship lights?

TREY: No, like heavenly lights.

TINA-LOUISE: Etheral lights.

DAN: But they weren't scary, they were comforting lights.

TREY: Right, and out of these lights came Brendan's mother and his little brother, they were all so happy to see each other, they just kept hugging.

KEN: This is so cheesy.

FRANKY: So he just left with them?

TREY: Yes.

EDYTHE: And-he-didn't-even-say-goodbye?

TREY: No, he said-(Brendan enters)

BRENDAN: Trey, I heard what you said in your bedroom, and yes you're still my favorite.

EDYTHE: That's-what-he-said?

HELEN: But then he added.

BRENDAN: Thought, I'm also very fond of Helen.

TREY: But his final words were.

BRENDAN: But mostly, I like Trey best of all.

(Trey and Brendan hug goodbye.)

TREY: And then they eveloped into snow and disappeared and the lights were gone.

DAN: But it was ok that he was gone, because he was going home and that's where he wanted to be.

KEN: That's so bogis, It's a total crock!

DAN: We saw it happened, did anyone else besides you see Brendan torch the shed?

KEN: You know what. I know what I saw, I bet the police would believe me before they believe any of you. You all can go to hell.

BENNY: That's where you're going Ken, Brendan told us.

KEN: Bite me!

VINCENT: So... now what?

DOOFUS: I guess we go home.

TINA-LOUISE: Anyone need a ride?

ALL: Nooooooo!

TINA-LOUISE: You guys are so mean.

(They all leave, Trey stays behind)

TREY: Hey, Dan

(Dan re-enters)

DAN: Yeah?

TREY: My mother works at the hospital

DAN: Uh-huh?

TREY: And she say your mom's one of the nicest patients.

DAN: Oh yeah?

TREY: Yeah.

DAN: Cool, well I'm gonna take off.(Dan exits)

TREY: Okay. (Helen enters)

HELEN: Hey, Trey.(Trey sheilds his face) You coming?

TREY:(Un-sheilds) Uuhh... yeah.

HELEN: Cool, I'll walk back with you.

TREY: Oh, Okay.

HELEN: Brendan tells me you're named after "Trey Gunn."

TREY: Uhh... yeah.

HELEN: I'm a big fan of his.

TREY: Oh, really?

HELEN: I'm named after "Helen Gurley Brown" the founder of cosmopolitan.

TREY: Oh, I didn't know that.

HELEN: Wanna see my glass eye?

TREY: No thanks.

HELEN: Just checking.

(They both exits)

RADIO GUY: Good evening Wisconsin at W-A-C-K radio, reports of the mysterious lost boy has come up empty, leaving authorities to wonder if they were fooled by a snow day prank by local school kids. Do we have another bigfoot in the making folks? Who knows, but if you see something walking in the woods, get out your cameras andstart clicking. Special anouncement to 's class she called me to remind you about those journals, if you haven't started now then you better get cracking, She's sure you had something to write about after this long winter break. This is Tom Thompson signing off and remember to bundle up.

THE END


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